Pentatonix

Pentatonix
Pentatonix in Texas 2015
General information
Genre (s)	A cappella , pop , soul , R&B , dubstep
founding	2011
Website	ptxofficial.com
Current occupation
Mezzo-soprano	Kirstin Maldonado
Countertenor	Mitchell Grassi
baritone	Scott Hoying
bass	Matt Sallee (since 2018)
Beatboxing	Kevin Olusola
former members
bass	Avriel "Avi" Kaplan (2011-2017)
Members for live performances
bass	Matt Sallee (since 2017)

Pentatonix is a US-based a cappella - group consisting of Mitchell Grassi ( countertenor ), Scott Hoying ( baritone ), Kirstin Maldonado ( mezzo-soprano ), Kevin Olusola ( beatbox ) and Matt Sallee ( bass ). Until September 2017, Avriel Kaplan (bass) was also a member. The band was founded in Arlington in the US state of Texas .

Band history

The Pentatonix story began with three friends, Kirstin "Kirstie" Maldonado, Mitch Grassi and Scott Hoying, who grew up together and attended Martin High School in Arlington, Texas. When they heard about a local radio show that was running a competition to meet the cast of the television series Glee , they arranged a trio version of Lady Gaga's song Telephone , which they sent in as a contribution. Although they didn't win the competition, their video attracted attention at their school, where the group then began performing. After their version of Telephone gained attention on YouTube, they covered more songs, which they also put online.

Hoying and Maldonado graduated from Martin High School in 2010, Grassi graduated in 2011. Hoying then went to the University of Southern California (USC), Maldonado studied musical theater at the University of Oklahoma. At USC, Scott Hoying joined the a cappella group SoCal VoCals . He learned about the casting show "The Sing-Off" on NBC from another member of the group, Ben Bram (now also their arranger , producer and sound engineer ) , and was encouraged to audition for the show. He convinced Kirstie Maldonado and Mitch Grassi to join him. However, the show required a minimum of four members. Hoying had meanwhile met Avriel "Avi" Kaplan, an a cappella bass singer. In addition, the band became aware of Kevin Olusola through a YouTube video in which he beatboxed and played the cello at the same time. Olusola was born in Pasadena , California and holds an undergraduate degree in medicine from Yale University . He speaks Mandarin Chinese after studying in China for a year.

The group met for the first time the day before they auditioned for the show "The Sing-Off". The band successfully got through casting and eventually managed to win the show's third season in 2011. They won $ 200,000 and a record deal with Sony .

The band name Pentatonix was suggested by Scott Hoying and is based on the pentatonic scale , a musical scale with five notes per octave. The group found that the five grades on the scale matched its five members. They replaced the last letter with an 'x' to make the name more appealing. The group is influenced by pop , dubstep , electro , reggae , hip-hop and classical music .

First album and tour

After winning the show, all of the band members moved to Los Angeles to pursue entertaining careers. The aim of the group is to become the first mainstream a cappella group of modern times.

In January 2012, Pentatonix began posting videos with covers of popular and classic songs on YouTube. Some of these cover versions, including Somebody That I Used to Know by Gotye and Kimbra , Gangnam Style by Psy, and We Are Young by FUN. , went viral on YouTube .

The first EP PTX Vol. 1 was released on June 26, 2012 and debuted at number 14 on the US Billboard 200 charts and number 5 on the digital charts. It sold 20,000 copies in its first week of release. They promoted their album through media appearances on Access Hollywood , VH1 The Buzz , Marie and local television shows. Pentatonix also appeared as guests in the Chinese version of Sing-Off , in which Kevin Olusola was able to demonstrate his language skills in Mandarin .

Pentatonix embarked on their first national headlining tour with guests Alexander Cardinale and SJ Acoustic Music in autumn 2012. The 30-city tour was sold out.

The group released their Christmas EP, PTXmas, on November 13, 2012, which hit # 7 on the US charts . The day after, they released their video for Carol of the Bells . Promoting their album, they were the main artists supporting Coca-Cola Red Carpet LIVE! @ The 2012 American Music Awards on November 18, 2012, performed on the Hollywood Christmas Parade and were the main opening act in the 94.7 THE WAVE Christmas Concert starring Dave Koz and Kenny Loggins on December 16, 2012. They also became main guests with Katie Couric (ABC ), Home and Family (Hallmark), The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Big D NYE . Ryanseacrest.com named Pentatonix the 2012 Leading Artist of the Year for their rapid growth online in just one year.

The band completed their second national headlining tour on May 11, 2013 . At the same time, they wrote more of their own compositions for their second EP, which was released on November 5, 2013.

The band has engaged in collaboration with other artists. In March 2013, Pentatonix released a cover version of the Imagine Dragons song Radioactive with violinist Lindsey Stirling , which debuted at number one on the Billboard charts in the classic digital song category and took first place at the 2013 YouTube Awards. On July 23, 2015, the single reached gold status. In 2014 they worked together again to create a cover version of Stromaes Papaoutai , which was released on the album PTX, Vol. III , which was released in the same year .

Also in 2014, a mashup of Don't Worry, Be Happy and Winter Wonderland appeared on the Christmas album That's Christmas to Me together with Tori Kelly . In February 2016 the album reached double platinum status in the USA .

They were awarded a Grammy in 2015 for the arrangement of the Daft Punk Medley on their PTX-2 EP . It also received gold status in the same year.

Pentatonix made a guest appearance in Pitch Perfect 2 as a Canadian team at the A cappella World Championship and in the children's series KC Undercover on the Disney Channel. The album Pentatonix was released on October 16, 2015. There is also a Deluxe Edition, which contains 17 titles.

The Christmas album A Pentatonix Christmas was released on October 21, 2016, the EP PTX Vol. IV - Classics on April 7, 2017.

On May 12, 2017, Avriel "Avi" Kaplan announced his departure from the band. He wants to complete all upcoming gigs by September 2017. In October 2017, Matt Sallee was introduced to the audience as the new bass. He joined Pentatonix as the bass voice for the 2017 winter tour and the new album "A Pentatonix Christmas Deluxe".

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2014	PTX, vols. 1 & 2	-	-	-	-	-	First published: July 30, 2014 in Japan and Australia only
	PTX	DE34 (4 weeks) DE	AT20 (12 weeks) AT	CH27 (3 weeks) CH	-	-	First published: September 19, 2014 in Europe only
	That's Christmas to Me	DE96 (1 week) DE	AT11 gold (34 weeks)AT	CH63 (6 weeks) CH	UK79 (5 weeks) UK	US2 × 2 Double platinum (53 weeks)US	First release: October 21, 2014 Christmas album
2015	Pentatonix	DE38 (1 week) DE	AT14 (11 weeks) AT	CH24 (2 weeks) CH	UK18 (4 weeks) UK	US1 gold (30 weeks)US	First published: October 16, 2015
2016	A Pentatonix Christmas	DE13 (15 weeks) DE	AT4th gold (31 weeks)AT	CH15 (18 weeks) CH	UK73 (1 week) UK	US1 platinum (35 weeks)US	First release: October 21, 2016 Christmas album, 11 song titles Re-release: October 20, 2017 (16 songs )
2018	PTX Presents: Top Pop, Vol. I.	DE35 (1 week) DE	AT8 (5 weeks) AT	CH19 (2 weeks) CH	UK76 (1 week) UK	US10 (3 weeks) US	First published: April 13, 2018
	Christmas Is Here!	-	AT27 (10 weeks) AT	-	-	US7 (13 weeks) US	First published: October 26, 2018

Compilations

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2017	That's Christmas to Me + PTXmas Deluxe	-	-	-	-	US64 (7 weeks) US	First published: 2015 exclusively at Walmart
2019	The Best of Pentatonix Christmas	DE95 (1 week) DE	AT17 (4 weeks) AT	CH56 (2 weeks) CH	UK81 (1 week) UK	US7 (10 weeks) US	First published: October 25, 2019

EPs

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2012	PTX Vol. I.	-	-	-	-	US14 (10 weeks) US	First published: June 26, 2012
	PTXmas	-	AT36 (1 week) AT	-	-	US7th gold (33 weeks)US	First release: November 13th, 2012 Christmas EP, placed in AT in 2014
2013	PTX Vol. II	-	-	-	-	US10 (18 weeks) US	First published: November 5, 2013
2014	PTX Vol. III	-	-	-	-	US5 (17 weeks) US	First published: September 23, 2014
2017	PTX Vol. IV - Classics	DE94 (1 week) DE	AT20 (3 weeks) AT	CH26 (2 weeks) CH	UK41 (1 week) UK	US4 (6 weeks) US	First published: April 7, 2017

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2013	Little Drummer Boy PTXmas	-	AT8 (9 weeks) AT	-	-	US13 (3 weeks) US	First published: November 2013
2014	Mary, Did You Know? That's Christmas to Me	-	AT47 (1 week) AT	-	-	US26th platinum (7 weeks)US	First published: October 17, 2014
2015	Can't Sleep Love Pentatonix	-	-	-	-	US99 gold (1 week)US	First published: September 4th, 2015
2016	Hallelujah A Pentatonix Christmas	DE4th gold (23 weeks)DE	AT1 (22 weeks) AT	CH7th platinum (18 weeks)CH	-	US23 platinum (11 weeks)US	First published: October 2016

More singles

• 2013: Radioactive (US:gold) (with Lindsey Stirling )
• 2013: Daft Punk (US:gold)
• 2013: Royals
• 2014: Say Something
• 2014: Happy
• 2014: problem
• 2014: La La Latch
• 2015: cheerleaders
• 2016: If I Ever Fall in Love ( feat.Jason Derulo )
• 2016: Jolene ( feat.Dolly Parton )
• 2017: Dancing on My Own
• 2018: Havana
• 2018: New Rules x Are You That Somebody?
• 2018: Making Christmas

Awards for music sales

Golden record  Australia 2018: for the album That's Christmas to Me  Denmark 2019: for the single Hallelujah  Canada 2018: for the album Pentatonix 2018: for the single Mary, Did You Know? 2018: for the single Can't Sleep Love

Platinum record  Australia 2020: for the single Hallelujah  Italy 2019: for the single Hallelujah  Canada 2015: for the single That's Christmas to Me 2016: for the album A Pentatonix Christmas 2018: for the single Hallelujah  Poland 2017: for the single Hallelujah 2 × platinum record  Canada 2018: for the album That's Christmas to Me

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Australia (ARIA)	gold1	platinum1	105,000	aria.com.au
Denmark (IFPI)	gold1	-	45,000	ifpi.dk
Germany (BVMI)	gold1	-	200,000	musikindustrie.de
Italy (FIMI)	-	platinum1	50,000	fimi.it
Canada (MC)	3 × gold3	5 × platinum5	520,000	musiccanada.com
Austria (IFPI)	2 × gold2	-	15,000	ifpi.at
Poland (ZPAV)	-	platinum1	20,000	bestsellery.zpav.pl
Switzerland (IFPI)	-	platinum1	20,000	hitparade.ch
United States (RIAA)	5 × gold5	5 × platinum5	7,500,000	riaa.com
All in all	13 × gold13	14 × platinum14th

Honourings and prices

• The Sing-Off 2011
• YouTube play button in silver, gold and diamond
• Grammy Award 2015 in the category "Best Instrumental or A-cappella-Arrangement (Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella)" for her Daft-Punk-Medley.
• Grammy Award 2016 in the category "Best Instrumental or A-cappella-Arrangement (Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella)" for her arrangement of "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy"
• Grammy Award 2017 in the category "Best Country Duo / Group Performance" for "Jolene" with Dolly Parton

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} A Cappella Standouts Pentatonix Add New Member Ahead Of Holiday Tour, Album Release , tubefilter.com, news from October 18, 2017.
2. ^ Mitchell Wiggs: Pentatonix Announces Avi Kaplan Is Leaving The Group. May 12, 2017. Retrieved August 5, 2017 . 
3. ↑ Amy Malkoff: An Exclusive Interview With Pentatonix's Scott Hoying . In: casa.org . November 27, 2011. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Patrick M. Walker: As part of Pentatonix, Arlington trio shines on NBC's 'The Sing-Off' . In: dfw.com . November 8, 2011. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
5. ^ John Hodges: A Brief Interview with Scott Hoying of Pentatonix . In: casa.org . September 25, 2011. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
6. ↑ The Sing-Off Season 3 - Official Casting Site . September 7, 2011. Archived from the original on September 7, 2011. Retrieved on November 7, 2013.
7. ↑ Kevin Olusola: Cello and Beatboxing . YouTube. January 15, 2009. Retrieved November 7, 2013.
8. ↑ Stephen Russ: Faith, Innovation, and Cello Beat Boxing - An Interview with Kevin Olusola of Pentatonix . In: Beliefnet.com . Retrieved August 25, 2012.
9. ^ Jean Bentley: 'The Sing Off' winners Pentatonix on YouTube, Nick Lachey and recording an album . In: zap2it.com . November 29, 2011. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
10. ^ Phil Gallo: 'The Sing-Off' Finale: Pentatonix Takes The Trophy . In: Billboard.com . November 29, 2011. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
11. ^ Cathy O'Neal: Pentatonix on The Sing-Off . In: TheaterJones.com . October 11, 2011. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
12. ^ Gary Trust: Weekly Chart Notes: Whitney Houston, Pentatonix, Andy Griffith . In: Billboard.com . July 6, 2012. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
13. ^ Grady Smith: 'Sing-Off' champs Pentatonix talk competition, their future album, and (of course) Nick Lachey's puns . In: Insidetv.ew.com . December 2, 2011. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
14. ↑ Jennifer Still: 'The Sing-Off' Pentatonix interview: 'We want mainstream success' . In: Digital Spy . November 30, 2011. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
15. ^ The Sing Off Season 3: Conference Call With Pentatonix . In: Reality Wanted . December 2, 2011. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
16. ^ Pentatonix Perform At The Recording Academy . Grammy.com. October 1, 2012. Archived from the original on September 6, 2013. Retrieved on March 14, 2017.
17. ↑ Pentatonix 'We Are Young' A Capella Cover Goes Viral . In: Huffington Post . May 9, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
18. ↑ Marielle Wakim: Pentatonix Are Making a Cappella Cool Again (or Maybe for the First Time) . In: Huffington Post . July 16, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
19. ^ Paul Grein: Week Ending July 1, 2012. Albums: Keeping Adam Humble . In: Yahoo! Music Chart Watch . July 4, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
20. ↑ Grady Smith: Winners of 'The Sing-Off' outsell 'The Voice' winner Javier Colon . In: music-mix.ew.com . July 3, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
21. ↑ Linkin Parks One, Maroon's Next . In: Hits Daily Double . June 27, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
22. ↑ Phill Gallo: Pentatonix Working On Christmas EP, Four-Month Tour In 2013 . billboard.biz. September 26, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
23. ↑ Lauren Moraski: Pentatonix: Keeping the a cappella spark bright after 'The Sing-Off' . In: CBS News . July 6, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
24. ^ Adam Lawton: Pentatonix's Avi Kaplan & Scott Hoying talk about NBC's 'The Sing Off' . In: mediamikes.com . July 29, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
25. ^ Pentatonix (interview) . In: dfwlive.org . August 10, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
26. ^ Gary Trust, Pentatonix Covers Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' 'Thrift Shop' At Billboard HQ , Billboard (April 4, 2013): "Pentatonix's new video is a collaboration with violinist (and recent Chart Beat Meet & Great spotlight artist) Lindsey Stirling, a cover of Imagine Dragons' "Radioactive," the original of which has topped Alternative Songs for seven weeks and this week bounds 15-7 on the Hot 100. The reworked "Radioactive" has garnered 775,000 YouTube views, while Pentatonix's official YouTube channel has drawn to astounding 63 million views ”.
27. ^ ^{A b} Brian Cantor: Pentatonix & Lindsey Stirling's “Radioactive” goes gold; “Daft Punk” also certified. Headline Planet. August 10, 2015, accessed May 16, 2016.
28. ↑ Gold and platinum awards. RIAA. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
29. ↑ Avi Kaplan Exits Pentatonix in Tearful Goodbye Video
30. ^ Pentatonix - Upcoming Tour Dates
31. ↑ ^{a b c d} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US1 US2

Web links

Commons : Pentatonix  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• official homepage
• Pentatonix's channel on YouTube
• Pentatonix's channel on YouTube for Germany